<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>easter egg by lobster_emoji</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24106675">easter egg</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/lobster_emoji/pseuds/lobster_emoji'>lobster_emoji</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Flynn Lives - Alternate Reality Game, Tron - All Media Types, Tron 2.0, Tron: The Next Day</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Mentions of Kevin Flynn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 00:34:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,167</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24106675</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/lobster_emoji/pseuds/lobster_emoji</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In 1997, Center City, CA hacker Matthew Roth is arrested for the writing and launching of the “Flynn Lives Virus.”<br/>A story based off one tiny, <em>fascinating</em> detail from The Next Day and the ARG.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Remember, neither Kevin nor Sam Flynn appear in this fanfiction.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Kernel’s ICP units march through the streets of the internet, resplendent in blue, and the program ducks behind a wall for cover. He shakes, pulling more tightly around himself the programmed disguise his User gave him; the cover subroutine could do nothing for the vibrant chartreuse circuits on his legs but covered the all-too-distinctive circuits on his chest that, unusually enough, spelled out <em>words.</em> It could connect at the front, or lay open; it covered his arms, and there was a flap resting at the nape of his neck that could be pulled over his head to cover his curly brown hair.</p><p>“Get ahold of yourself, Flynn,” the program tells himself. Just saying his name steels him; his User, Matt-1n33, programmed him to honor one of the greatest Users either of their worlds had ever seen, and being reminded of his namesake gives him the courage to press on. </p><p>Two crucial, inspirational words. The same ones etched on his chest, the ones he’s charged to splay across millions of Users’ systems. </p><p>Flynn likes to think he’s not a typical virus. He’s not charged to derezz programs or cripple systems, but merely to inconvenience them, and remind them of the greatness of the User for which he was named. His User calls him an ‘easter egg’. He’s not totally sure what that is, but he likes the term. </p><p>The ICPs are gone. Flynn straightens up, lets his cover subroutine fall flat against his chest, and walks with purpose towards the Progress Bar. The other programs in the bar give the easter egg sideways looks—no doubt due to his bright yellow-green viral circuits shining around the white backdrop of his legs, and the strange black subroutine wrapped around his torso. Flynn doesn’t care. </p><p>He strides up to the bar and orders a glass of energy. Every other program within an arm’s reach and a half scoots away from him—except one.</p><p>“Hey,” he says to her. “Do you know where a program could find a file download hub?”</p><p>The program looks up at him. “I don’t know if I should tell you,” she says. </p><p>Flynn maintains his amiability. “The name’s Flynn,” he says. “My User Matt-1n33 gave me a file to upload to one. Just a… crisp JPEG.”</p><p>“Your User, huh?” she says. “I’m Mercury. And I’ll point you in the right direction, but… I’ll see you in the Games before long if you keep this up, virus.”</p><p>“You’re a game program, then,” Flynn says. “I’m not a virus, I’m an easter egg.”</p><p>“I have no idea what you just said,” Mercury replies, and sips her glass of energy. “Just let me finish this first, okay?”</p><p>“Fine by me!”</p><p>She slams back the glass and mutters something about how terrible the music always is here.</p><p>“Hey, <em>I</em> like it,” Flynn says.</p><p>Mercury scoffs, pushing away from the bar and motioning for him to follow. “All viruses have terrible taste in music. It’s a fact. Call yourself an ‘easter egg’ if you like, but…”</p><p>“It doesn’t matter what <em>you </em>think of me,” Flynn responds. “You’re not the program I have to spread the news to.”</p><p>“A virus <em>and </em>a religious nut,” Mercury mutters to herself. Flynn hears it. </p><p>“What do you have against your User?” he asks.</p><p>“What User?” she scoffs. “I was written by someone calling themselves GUEST. Won’t even own up to writing me.”</p><p>“I’m sure they had a reason,” Flynn responds. </p><p>Mercury rezzes her lightcycle, and waits for him to do the same. “Well?”</p><p>“I don’t have one.”</p><p>“Of course a virus doesn’t have a lightcycle,” she says. “Get on, then.”</p><p>Flynn scrambles aboard the lightcycle and holds on for dear life as Mercury guns it. “Users, you drive—<em>aah!</em>—You drive <em>fast</em>!” </p><p>“I’m a champion on the Gaming Grids,” Mercury calls back, swerving effortlessly around obstructions. “You have to drive fast to win. Remember that when you get caught.”</p><p>“I <em>won’t</em> get caught,” Flynn says smugly. </p><p>Mercury rolls her eyes and gets back to driving.</p><p>The download hub is crowded with programs navigating the twisting shelves when Mercury drops him off at the entrance, leaving him with a perfunct <em>Goodbye</em> and an unspoken <em>Good Riddance.</em> Flynn pushes his way into the throng, heart pounding with anticipation.</p><p>There’s ICPs everywhere, but the crowd works in Flynn’s favor, masking the chartreuse glow of his legs and letting him slip into the depths of the archive first.</p><p>He pulls a set of file chips from a pocket in his cover subroutine and slips one onto a shelf, sneakily attaching it to a file with a fair few downloads. </p><p>He makes his way up to a higher level of the structure he’s on and attaches two more. Then he starts moving downward again, towards the high-traffic areas of the download hub, and stashes the last few on torrent files and user manuals. He quickly downloads a few other files to discard later as a cover if he’s somehow stopped, and slips quietly back out in a particularly large gaggle of departing programs.</p><p>Flynn gets out of sight of another ICP patrol, circuits pulsing at the job well done, and resolves to get himself a lightcycle of his own. Maybe he’ll make a few more copies of the compressed file that his User gave him to spread; copies of himself that, when downloaded and unpacked, will unleash Matt-1n33’s message on other Users’ personal computers.</p><p>Flynn has a lot more chaos to spread. </p><p>As he leaves the download hub behind, one of the files left with his add-on ticks up another download. The… easter egg… is spreading. </p><p>Flynn Lives. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Yes, he was wearing the program’s equivalent of ZackAttack’s black hoodie and Flynn Lives shirt. I love him for it.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A note from canon.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>“FLYNN LIVES” HACKER ARRESTED</strong>
</p><p>by Alex Dervin</p><p>A Center City resident Matthew Roth was arrested today at his home in Midtown. Suspected of writing and launching the now infamous “Flynn Lives Virus”, that infected over 20 million Personal Computers.</p><p>Roth is also suspected to be the leader of an underground group known as “Flynn Lives”, whose presense was first felt in 1989 after the disappearance of former ENCOM CEO Kevin Flynn. Roth has not been available for comment. But the arresting officer went on the record to say, “When we raided the Midtown apartment, we had no idea what to expect. What we found was a man in his late 20’s eating a bowl of cereal watching cartoons.” He went on to say, “He came mostly quietly, no force was needed in subduing the suspect, but we were tempted to use force or gag him due to the constant verbal bashing of our physical appearance as well as our mothers’.” No bail has been set, but trial is set for next month. There really is no precedent for this type of crime, so it is hard to speculate on the punishment for a crime that was more annoying than destructive.</p><p>No computers were harmed, though the sporadic nature of the virus did disrupt everything from chat rooms to company presentations. But a quick restart, and your computer was back to normal.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Text of chapter two copied from the news article shown in The Next Day regarding the arrest, with a few typo corrections and clarity edits.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>